GEORGETOWN, Guyana  Australian officials have signed an agreement pledging to help Guyana manage its national parks and botanical gardens, state-run media reported Saturday.

Prime Minister Samuel Hind on Friday signed an agreement with officials from Australia's Adelaide National Park promising assistance in conservation and environmental management practices.

There are four regions in Guyana that have been set aside as national preserves and which need to be protected. Guyana also has two notable botanical gardens in the capital, Georgetown.

Scientists have been fighting to protect the Giant Otter, the Harpy Eagle, jaguars and the Arapaima fish, considered one of the largest freshwater fishes in the world.

Most of these are found in the southwest Rupununi region near the border with Brazil. Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency has blamed over fishing and commercial hunting for dwindling numbers of the Harpy Eagle, the Arapaima and the Giant Otter.